March 11 Gathering Ground Report; Kimble's Southwestern Sojourn

 GATHERING GROUND REPORT - MARCH 11, 2026

No picture provided, so we found a reasonable facsimile

Guest attendee today was Chet's son, Father Wayne.  He was unaccompanied as Chet who originally wanted to attend with Father Wayne but woke up on the wrong side of the bed and just wanted to pass on the trip.

Father Wayne did stay and we all had a great time with various stories remembering some of the old days and some ol his current experiences.

Father Wayne, JoAnn, Bill, Dave and Jerry shared many stories and also ordered almost the same breakfast as the last few times in attendance.  Dave has continued to order the YUMMY.  It's the homemade Corned Beef that everyone at the table has ordered at least once(except Jo) and realized you need to be really hungry to come close to emptying the plate.

Jo brought up the song " Everything I own"..   It's a story about losing a parent and we all thought it was worth listening to and this could bring on a tear if any of us have lost one or all of our parents.   HERE is a link  for you, close your eyes and let the words sink in.

Chet would love a visit if anyone is in the Longmeadow area.  Here is his address:   Chet,  East Village   East Longmeadow, Mass.

A little survey around the table to see who might be listening to either AM or FM radio.  about a 50% audience raised a hand.   Spotify and Apple Music were also popular.  A little AM for some news was announced by a few.

Father Wayne loves music and has from this date, 24 Concerts booked for the rest of the year.  He ranges the New England area in search of the genre of his liking.  Chet has gone to many in the past and there is a chance that a local venue could see Chet again.
Many bands that Father Wayne is still seeing are fully or mostly replaced as the original start on many are in the 60's, 70's, and 80's.

Jerry has shown the first week of solar gain with his newly operational solar array.   We have more clouds than son so far in March, the forecast looks a little bleak at this point.

I had to excuse myself and get back to the house to begin a 400 mile first day on the road.   RVing to the South West to visit some of our great favourite National Parks that are last on the list in the lower 48*.   See you all in two months.

Your Scribe

Jerry   

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* KIMBLE'S SOUTHWESTERN SOJOURN

If you'd like to follow along with Jerry & Laura's travels through the Southwestern U.S., see their BLOG at this link: 

https://kimblescaliforniasuperbloom2026.blogspot.com/

February 11 Gathering Ground Report

 GATHERING GROUND REPORT - FEBRUARY 11, 2026

Bill, Pete, Dave, Jerry

The high for today is 40 degrees warmer (and the predicted high is only 34F) than some of the lows for the past two weeks here in Connecticut.  Looks like from the 10 day forecast we are going to leave the Big Chill behind us for the 2026 winter season.  

Pete, Bill, Dave and Jerry surrounded the table today.  Pete provided a ride for me as I'm now four weeks away from my femur break and have only driven on the street in front of the house and was not too sure about traversing from Granby to Windsor Locks in commuter traffic.   All went well with Pete at the helm.

Of course with how I am doing with my medical setback, lots of health related conversations followed with visits to the VA to find out why the Calcium test is off, to comparing dental issues in two of the four mounts.  Pete was absent  from the Health Care conversation.....Lucky Pete.

Bill recalled some of his flight highlights when he was behind the helm (nautical term? ) of his plane.  One memorable one was the time he was landing at one of the airports and found his landing path was just behind a B-17 !    WOW, that was a memory....

Snow on the solar panels as we have had a substantial amount of snow here in Connecticut.  

Of course that shading reduces the generation gain from the panel.  Sometimes the snow leaves some of the panels, and depending on the inverter configuration, that could generate some juice or sometimes very little.   String inverter or micro inverter.   I'm string and Pete is micro.   Since I have not been hooked up to the grid we are not able to compare our monthly generation totals.  NEXT year.

Repotting plants was on the table and it was decided that this is a great time to perform that task with the dormant season ending and (with the sun's help) the growing season is just around the corner.  My seeds are on order and some starting  planters to help get the season started 

Your Scribe
Jerry